What is your view on the ongoing efforts to resolve Nigeria-UAE diplomatic conflict?
First, I want to express my gratitude to our fathers General Yakubu Gowon, General Ibrahim Babangida and President Goodluck Jonathan. May God bless them all. These three men are just and great leaders. They are all alive and they will hear my words because they know what they did to make Nigeria great. I pray to God to bless them. I hope President Ahmed Bola Tinubu will borrow wisdom from the three leaders. They are patriotic Nigerians and respected everywhere in the world. The president needs to consult them on Nigeria’s bilateral relationships with other countries. I am also grateful to Engineer Mustapha Bello who is one of the brains behind the formation of the Nigerian Trade Centre in Dubai.
Let me take you down memory lane. There was a time when some Nigerians lived as vagabonds in Egypt. The sad story did not go down well with Babangida. He bought a house for Nigerian travelers to lodge in during their trips. No past or present leader did such a favour to Nigerians in diaspora, but General Babangida. Unfortunately nobody seems to know or speak about it.
The same was extended to Nigerians wandering in France then. These are the kind of leaders to be consulted because they know the secret to life overseas. They led with clear-cut master plans that Nigerians were celebrated abroad during their times unlike what is obtainable today.
This is part of the reason I am happy with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s visit to UAE to resolve the visa impasse. Within a moment of stopover, he met with UAE authorities and resolved the issue. This is extremely commendable. The president has demonstrated commitment. I urge him to consult the two wise former presidents since they are alive. By doing so, we hope Nigeria will rise again.
Nigerians are dear to Emiratis Business-wise. Nigeria is so dear to the United Arab Emirates. The Emiratis enjoy cordial relationships with Nigerians in business and social interactions.
The Emiratis naturally love and respect Nigerians. In essence, they respect the blacks, but Nigerians occupy a special spot in their hearts. Those claiming they are being humiliated by Emiratis are big liars.
Let me expatiate this with some examples: There was a time when one of my sons fell sick. His younger brother called an ambulance when we were preparing for the dawn prayer. In less than fifteen minutes, the vehicle was at the gate. They carried him outside and examined him for about ten minutes.
The younger brother wanted to accompany him to the hospital, but they told him it was of no use. The ambulance drove to the hospital after they gave us an appointment to check back the following day.
To my surprise, nobody demanded a kobo from us. What mattered to them was my son’s health. Where can a stranger be given a free healthcare service if not Dubai?
The following day, we were at the hospital, but were told we could not see him because he was in a theatre room. On the third day, he was discharged. A bill of about 2,500 dollars was presented to me, followed by a question whether he was insured. When I said no, I was asked to go to the cashier. The younger brother spoke to the Arab cashier in Arabic, explaining our situation. He told the Arab man that we were handed a bill of 2,500 dollars, but we were soliciting for a discount on the bill.
The cashier directed him to the person in charge of the department. Upon arrival, the boy repeated the same, stressing our demand for a discount. We told him we would pay 500 dollars instead, an amount he dismissed as too small. Since we did not have the means, as we explained to him, the amount was slashed to 600 dollars. I did not have such a privilege in Nigeria.
Secondly, I visited a Nigerian, the late Wazirin Jama’a, in the hotel he was staying in. I was in his room when he suddenly started vomiting blood. I reported this to the reception. The receptionist instantly called an ambulance, which arrived in ten minutes. All they demanded was his passport before they drove him away.
This is a country where everybody is treated justly irrespective of where they come from. Nobody would dupe you and go away with it, no matter how highly placed he or she is. People of Dubai are more hospitable to Nigerians than
Nigerians are to their fellow Nigerians. Despite duping, deception and recklessness by Nigerians, the Emiratis have not turned their backs on Nigerians.
Another example is how organisations and companies give donations to be taken to poor Nigerians. I was in many instances entrusted with such donations.
No doubt, the visa restriction led to economic losses. Can you estimate the losses?
Nigeria has counted economic losses following the visa embargo imposed by the UAE. Previously, Nigeria benefited from every trip into the country. Every flight from UAE to Nigeria brings with it a benefit to the country. The reason being that if you want to deal with a company that does not exist in Nigeria and you decide to connect with it in Dubai, as long as the company is from a country that does not have visa restrictions, its agent(s) will arrive earlier than you.
> The country is technologically advanced. It has the most adequate security, modern telecommunications industries, and world-class hotels. The country has thriving businesses all over the world.
The country has business relationships with various countries of the world. That is part of the reasons Nigeria lost a lot following the impasse. This has affected flights from Nigeria, especially Air Peace Airlines, because they will be flying to Dubai from Nigeria. Air transport would have increased, if not for the reason. Nigeria would have made a good name in this regard.
Furthermore, Emirate flights which land in Nigeria, must fuel in Nigeria and every passenger must pay a tax of N5,000, aside the money meant for menial labourers. This includes hotel bills, employees pay, the revenue from Nigerian airspace usage tax, as well as the cost of keeping the planes. Nigeria might have lost the sum of N100 billion.
Likewise, every Nigerian importing goods from Dubai must pay custom duties. Nigeria has lost about N50 billion as a result of the visa restrictions and banning of Emirates flights to Nigeria in this regard. Today Nigeria is withholding over 300 million dollars in revenue earned by the international career.
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> Additionally, some agreements and promises reached when former President Buhari met with Nigerian businessmen in Dubai were also affected because of the restrictions. Nigerians have one peculiarity. In whichever country they find themselves, they work hard to understand the business mentality of the country. This is unlike northerners even though they don’t travel abroad much. This restriction also affected those who travel to Saudi Arabia for pilgrimage and have a stopover at Dubai for tourism purposes and to meet new clients. Petty trading engaged in by our sons and daughters to earn a living and to send something to their families in Nigeria have also been crippled.
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> The long economic relationship barrier between Dubai and Nigeria has brought untold hardships to Nigeria. This ugly development has affected the dollar to naira exchange rate. If goods were efficiently imported into Nigeria from Dubai, prices would come down. Business relationships with Dubai will naturally reduce the overload on dollars and in the long run bring a decrease in prices of goods.
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> These are some of the losses since the embargo was imposed. Nobody investing in Nigeria will board any flight other than Emirates Airline or Etihad because they are the ones that have direct flights to Nigeria. This opportunity would have reduced the economic hardship Nigerians are facing.
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> In the last eleven months since the imposition of the restrictions, Nigeria has lost billions of naira. Anyway, this will serve as a lesson to Nigerians to work on their attitudes and for the government to come up with strict measures in issuance of passports to take care of the misdoing of those travelling abroad.
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> How do you see Tinubu from the beginning; on the right tracks or there should be amendments?
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> We are so grateful to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for the gesture. All Nigerians, young and old, irrespective of religious affiliations should include the president in their prayers so that God can give him wisdom to fix the country. Truth be told, Nigeria was in a mess under General Buhari. The religion of Islam admonishes the faithful to tell the truth even if it is against their own kins. Prophets of Allah told their parents the truth. The Qur’an says even if it is your father, if he deviates, you should tell him the truth. We will keep on telling the truth until Nigeria is fixed.
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> Nigeria is endowed, as it is always said, what do you think is the best way to move the country forward?
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> Nigeria is excessively rich in natural and human resources. Look at the population, the arable land and the waters. Every country in the world wants to relate with Nigeria and in every country there are Nigerians. God has endowed Nigeria, but corruption has destroyed the country. If the leaders stop stealing the country’s wealth, Nigeria will develop. We are also urging President Tinubu to come up with a policy whereby any traveler into Nigeria will get his visa at the airport and pay there not somewhere else. We should learn from Kenya’s visa policy. Every traveler into Kenya gets his or her visa at the airport. We are begging President Tinubu to do the same in Nigeria. This will attract investments. I challenge my detractors to present evidences. My attention has been drawn to some insinuations that some people gave me some money to keep for them. For your information, there is nobody’s money under my keep nor did I collect a penny from anybody. I challenge anybody thinking otherwise to publish his claims in national dailies for the public to judge. I am begging LEADERSHIP Newspaper to clear me from the accusations by publishing this widely so that those behind it will read. I know many people who had misappropriated money belonging to the Nigerian Trade Centre; I know the amount they misappropriated. I am begging them to return the money before security personnel arrest them.
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> To God Almighty be the glory that former President Jonathan is still alive. He signed the documents. We know those who embezzled money belonging to the Nigerian Trade Centre. The documents are available. People should understand one thing about Dubai. They keep records of every agreement or transaction. They are in their archives. Those whom I assisted trampled on my rights, but they are now going about spewing lies that I cheated them. I challenge them to make their claims public. If they refuse to do that, I will expose them.
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> Let’s review the past administration of Buhari, why did you tag him as “Arabs’ darling”?
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> No past Nigerian president was loved by the Arabs as much as President Buhari. How then is the argument that Dubai dislikes Nigerians? Proper plans should be made by the Nigerian authorities to easily identify and trace any Nigerian who misbehaves or is found wanting abroad. Without proper plans, which Nigeria apparently lacks, everything is possible. Emiratis like dealing with Nigerians and the country can help Nigeria beyond our expectations.
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> If proper bilateral relationships between Dubai and Nigeria were to be tied, the country is capable of donating two billion dollars to Nigeria. They did this in Egypt; Why not Nigeria? Besides, they said Nigeria has natural resources they require.
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> Even Nigeria’s waste is essential to other countries as you mentioned one time. Can you shed more light?
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> I proposed an idea on how to improve businesses in 12 countries and President Jonathan wholeheartedly welcomed it. He released money for the project; unfortunately this has not been implemented yet. Those who embezzled the money know themselves. As President Tinubu said, Dubai and Nigeria are inseparably related. This is true. The best way to improve Nigeria economically is to open trade centres in various countries around the world because Nigeria has what the countries need. The centres will help in advertising Nigeria’s resources abroad.
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> People say Nigeria is a tourist attraction of sorts?
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> Tourists’ attractions are some of the endowments God has blessed the country with. In Gembu in Mambilla, Taraba State, you will mistake the place for Canada. If you go to Obudu ranch, you will mistake it for Australia. And Maiduguri and Sokoto’s atmospheres resemble those of Arab countries’. Nigeria is blessed but Nigerians deny fellow Nigerians those blessings.
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> Those who misappropriated Nigeria’s funds should return them. Every one of us will one day die. Present leaders should learn lessons from past leaders. In essence, they should consider their position between the past and the future leaders. It is through self-examination that we will understand our true situation and bring lasting solutions to our problems.
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